Update on European Standards and Guidelines for Managing the Integrity of Bolted Joints

Abstract

A number of standards and guidelines associated with integrity of bolted joints were updated or introduced in 2013 and 2015 will see the release of “The Energy Institute Guidelines for the Management of Integrity of Bolted Joints in pressurized systems.” The first guidelines were introduced in 2002 in response to a drive to reduce Hydrocarbon leakage in the UK Offshore Industry; the third edition sees the industry once again targeting Hydrocarbon Leak Reduction. This paper will give an overview of the Guidelines — and discuss the key changes on the previous versions and alignment with ASME PCC-1-2013 and ASME PCC-2-2011. Ongoing work is in progress on European Standards: July 2013 saw the publication of the harmonized calculation standard. En1591-1. Late 2013 saw the training and competence standard EN1591-4 published and this standard is now being implemented. A guide and sample calculations to EN1591-1 are being worked on under EN1591-6. The paper will discuss other developments in Europe with the aim of complementing and harmonizing with the work of ASME.